Dan Aykroyd Hints That "Ghostbusters 3" Will Feature New Female Trainee Character And Says That "Ghostbusters III" Script Is Almost Finished

Dan Aykroyd, who created "Ghostbusters" and co-wrote both "Ghostbusters" and "Ghostbusters II" movies and who also starred as Ghostbusters character Dr. Raymond Stantz in both "Ghostbusters" and "Ghostbusters II", has hinted on his official Twitter page (@dan_aykroyd) that "Ghostbusters III" (also known as "Ghostbusters 3") may feature a new female trainee character:

A little insight into my vision for GB3: developed a great new part - a lady trainee.

But the Canadian movie star says he's still waiting to hear whether his co-star Bill Murray will be involved.

"The script is in my truck, so that'll tell you how close we are," Aykroyd said Thursday during an appearance at a liquor store in north Toronto to promote his vodka line.

"(Murray) is certainly welcome to walk in the door anytime. We love him. And it's hard to contemplate doing it without him."

Aykroyd and Murray starred in the first two "Ghostbusters" movies, directed by Canadian Ivan Reitman, along with Rick Moranis, Harold Ramis and Sigourney Weaver.

Aykroyd says he'll appear in the new film to train a whole new crew, which will include a female Ghostbuster.

He discussed the plans briefly before signing autographs for hundreds of fans who lined up at the store to buy his Crystal Head Vodka.

Ontario just recently began allowing the sale of the spirit, which was originally released in 2008 in a distinctive skull-shaped bottle.

"We had social responsibility concerns which have certainly been addressed," Karen Mortfield, a spokeswoman for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, said Thursday of the board's belated embrace of the product.

"Some of the packaging has been adjusted, (but) the product is still sold in the glass skull bottle, which is very neat."

Aykroyd said the only change is that the redesigned box now features a smaller picture of the skull-shaped bottle.

"It was about the packaging and I can understand where they would have to step back," he said.

"We see it as a positive, enlightening thing -- we call it a head; some people will always see it as just a skull and a symbol of demise rather than revival and afterlife. It is a grinning skull. We worked with them to come to a spectacular agreement that I think everybody can be happy with."

The arrival of the distinctive-looking product drew hundreds of Aykroyd fans seeking autographs and a photo with the Hollywood star.

Many of them were dressed as members of the "Ontario Ghostbusters" chapter, complete with faded jumpsuits, the Ghostbusters logo on their arms, bulky "proton packs" on their backs and "ghost traps" strapped to holsters on their hips.

Two real-life brothers showed up in dark suits and shades, dressed as the soulful Blues Brothers, Jake and Elwood. They waited for Aykroyd in front of the store, standing next to a retooled cop car they had redesigned to look like the retooled black-and-white Chicago cop car from the 1980 musical comedy "The Blues Brothers."

Fans eager to meet Aykroyd, who is also behind the Niagara Region-produced Dan Aykroyd Wines, included Speaker of the Ontario legislature Steve Peters, a former Liberal MPP who turned up to get the star's autograph on two bottles of vodka and several DVDs.

Two years after the all-female reboot of the beloved 1980s franchise arrived, original star Dan Aykroyd is now promising that a true Ghostbusters 3, starring the three surviving OG ‘busters, is on its way. Many thought the death of Harold Ramis, who played Egon Spengler, in 2014 had put paid to a proper reunion, but Aykroyd’s comments suggest that we can look forward to him teaming up with Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson in the near future.

While speaking on The Big Interview With Dan Rather, the man fans know as Dr. Ray Stantz, the heart of the Ghostbusters agreed with Rather’s wording that he was talking about making a “full-blown third Ghostbusters,” with an unknown writer already currently working on the script. Obviously, Aykroyd wouldn’t let on to anything about story details, but he did tease that it’ll try and recapture what worked so well about the original films while giving it a “21st century” twist.

“I think we got a story that’s gonna work. It’s being written by a really goo…

Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock; Columbia Pictures (3); Everett Collection
If so, there's good news from the world of Gozer — there’s a new Ghostbusters movie in the works!

Entertainment Weekly has learned exclusively that Jason Reitman will direct and co-write an upcoming film set in the world that was saved decades previously by the proton pack-wearing working stiffs in the original 1984 movie, which was directed by his father, Ivan Reitman.

“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a 6-year-old visiting the set. I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans,” Reitman says. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ‘80s happened in the ‘80s, and this is set in the present day.”